White Island

New Zealand

37.52°S, 177.18°E; summit elev. 321 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)

Ash-laden steam emission was reported starting 23 April and continued as of 27 May. An 18 May visit revealed that activity was centered at a newly formed vent in the NE part of 1978/91 Crater (figure 13), near a zone of hot ground first observed on 21 April. Considerable ash accumulation had already occurred in the surrounding area.

During 27May fieldwork, the new vent (named May 91) almost continuously (>=1 pulse/second) emitted a column of gas and minor ash 500-600 m high, depositing dry material, plus some moist sub-millimeter aggregates. The vent, against the NE crater wall, was surrounded by a tuff cone 35-40 m in diameter and 8-10 m high, but no ballistic ejecta were visible. Orca and TV1 Craters quietly emitted weak steam.

Up to 95 mm of ash had accumulated since 21 May at a site 125 m SSE of May 91 vent, of which at least 25 mm was from the new vent. Tephra had infilled the small lake in the vicinity of R.F. Vent (near the SE wall of 1978/90 Crater), and small mudflows traveled across the crater floor. Ash contained a high proportion of fresh material, but lacked vesiculated clasts.

Little change was observed at the 40-45-m-deep collapse pit NW of formerly active Donald Duck Crater. Two passages (20-30 m wide) led from the pit; one connected to Donald Duck Crater (to the SE), and the other headed at least 50-60 m N towards Noisy Nellie. The SE passage contained large sulfur stalactites and stalagmites.

Deformation measurements on 27 May showed that subsidence centered at Donald Mound and Noisy Nellie continued, but at lower rates than the last measurements on 13 February. Minor uplift was measured ~200 m S of Donald Mound.

Seismicity (typically small A- and B-type earthquakes) remained at low levels since 21 April, with periods of 2-3 days without recorded events. One uncharacteristically large E-type event, similar to an event preceding the formation of TV1 Crater (BGVN 15:09) was recorded at 0538 on 23 May. Weak low-frequency tremor has been recorded since 10 May.

Geologic Background. Uninhabited 2 x 2.4 km White Island, one of New Zealand's most active volcanoes, is the emergent summit of a 16 x 18 km submarine volcano in the Bay of Plenty about 50 km offshore of North Island. The island consists of two overlapping andesitic-to-dacitic stratovolcanoes; the summit crater appears to be breached to the SE, because the shoreline corresponds to the level of several notches in the SE crater wall. Volckner Rocks, four sea stacks that are remnants of a lava dome, lie 5 km NNE. Intermittent moderate phreatomagmatic and strombolian eruptions have occurred throughout the short historical period beginning in 1826, but its activity also forms a prominent part of Maori legends. Formation of many new vents during the 19th and 20th centuries has produced rapid changes in crater floor topography. Collapse of the crater wall in 1914 produced a debris avalanche that buried buildings and workers at a sulfur-mining project.